Does ‘Mortal Kombat’ Signal New Life for Video Game Movies in Hollywood?
“The audience is real and the business scales to the quality of the entertainment,” “Borderlands” executive producer Randy Pitchford says Video games have come a long way since “Super Mario Bros.” More than 30 years since its release, a game like “The Last of Us” doesn’t look or feel a thing like the 8-bit adventures of an Italian plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom. So how come the movies based off video games are still stuck in the 8-bit era? Despite the genre’s rough reputation and mixed box office results, Hollywood is now looking to adapt the biggest gaming franchises as well as artful indie games and more serious, critical darlings. The hope is that the industry’s attitude toward video game movies and shows is changing, and that critics and audiences will be more receptive. “Hollywood is definitely taking video games more seriously than they ever have before,” Randy Pitchford, executive producer of the “Borderlands” franchise at The Gearbox Entertainment Company and the executive producer of the “Borderlands” film, told TheWrap. “The audience is real and the business scales to the quality of the entertainment. The most successful people in the film and television business understand this and are taking video...
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